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Marshalltown Speedway crowns 2013 points champions

Sept. 6, 2013

MARSHALLTOWN — Claiming points championships for the 2013 season at Marshalltown Speedway were Jon Snyder in the IMCA modifieds, Jay Schmidt in the IMCA stock cars, Eric Elliott in the IMCA sportmods, Bill Bonnett in the IMCA hobby stocks, Josh May in the mod lites and Merv Chandler in the IMCA sport compacts.

None of the track champions won on the final night of racing last Friday night. Five of them finished in the top five and Bonnett ran sixth in the hobby stocks after taking the challenge of starting in the rear of the field.

The tightest points race going into the final night of racing was in the Meskwaki Bingo Casino Hotel IMCA modifieds. Ronn Lauritzen and Snyder were separated by one point and both chose to go to the back of the field for extra money.

Racer Hulin, Josh Truman and Luke Wanninger were the drivers out in front of the field through the feature race. Wanninger claimed the lead on Lap 8 and stayed there for the win. Snyder worked his way up to finish second and captured his second points championship at Motown in three years by one point. Richie Gustin was third in the race, Lauritzen was fourth and Clayton Christensen placed fifth.

In the IMCA sports compacts, John Gill had a wire-to-wire run for his first career feature victory. Gill said he was retiring the car at the end of the season after building it 11 years ago. Chad Larson ran second followed Adam Gates placing third, despite missing a left rear wheel. Josh Keller took fourth and Chandler, the track champion, was fifth.

Josh May, like other points leaders, took the challenge to go the the rear of the Toby K’s Hideaway mod lites feature. He would finish second to Dusy Masolini, who went to the lead of the field on Lap 6. Randy Bryan ended up third followed by Charlie Borwn and Mike Morrill to round out the top five.

Bonnett accepted the challenge to the rear of the Mike’s Hard Lemonade IMCA hobby stocks feature. Garrett Eilander and Eric Stanton were on the front row andit was Stanton breaking to the front and never looking back. Eric Larson claimed second followed by Eilander, Gary Pfantz and Scott Durlin. Division champion Bonnett was sixth.

Travis Peterson got past early-leader Jenae Gustin on Lap 14 in the Big 8 Tyre Center IMCA sport mods fearture. Peterson won the race while Gustin went to the pit area with trouble four laps later. Joel Rust, who accepted the challenge of starting at the back of the pack, worked his way to second. Jayme Duinink placwd third while track champion Elliott was fourth and Johnathan Logue was fifth.

Schmidt came in as the points leader, won the pole in the Amsoil IMCA stock cars feature and led for four laps. Damon Murty went to the front of the field then Brian Iriven chased him down for the lead at the white flag. Irvine won the final race of the season with Murty and Schmidt finishing second and third, respectively.

Schmidt won his first track championship by seven points over Steve Meyer, who finished fourth in the race. Derek Reimer was fifth in the feature.

Final race of the night was the Grundy County Challenge presented by Rouse Motors. Eric Larson led the first six laps before Travis Peterson snuck by on Lap 7. Peterson went on to take the win with Joel Rust in second, Curt Hook was third, Steve Meyer was fourth and Larson finished fifth. Other competitors was Jared Van Deest, Neil Follett, JD Kennedy, Shawn Albers, Doug Russell, Mitchell Engelkes, Robert Engelkes, Marty Rouse and Duane Van Deest.

Next up for the Speedway is the 7th Annual World Nationals on Sept. 19, 20 and 21. The first night is a practice night. On that Friday, qualifying begins for the modifieds along with a complete show for stock cars, sport mods and hobby stocks. Saturday night, the modifieds run for the top prize of $10,000-to-win with another complete show for the other three divisions.

For additional information and to follow the season at the Marshalltown Speedway, log on at: http://www.marshalltownspeedway.com/, or follow Marshalltown Speedway on Facebook and Twitter, or call the speedway office at 515-432-4703.